With the development of the technologies of wireless communication and information processing, portable electronic devices such as mobile telephones and electronic notebooks are now in widespread use. These electronic devices enable consumers to enjoy the convenience of high technology services anytime and anywhere. Foldable electronic devices are particularly favored by consumers for their convenience.
Generally, a foldable electronic device has most of the electronics in one housing, called the body. The other housing, called the cover, normally contains fewer electronic components than the body. Other foldable electronic devices have all the electronics in the body, with the cover containing no electronics. Various types of hinge mechanisms are used to join a body and a cover of a foldable electronic device, so that the cover can unfold up from and fold down upon the body. Nowadays, hinge mechanisms with one or more springs are preferred by many users. Although suitable for some foldable radiotelephones, a hinge mechanism with a spring is not suitable for certain miniaturized foldable radiotelephones. This is because the housing of a miniaturized radiotelephone may not have sufficient bulk to sturdily withstand the forces generated from the spring. If so, it is necessary to increase the size of the housing so that it has sufficient bulk to withstand the forces generated from the spring. This in effect increases the longitudinal size of the hinge mechanism, thus increasing the overall volume of the foldable electronic device.
Further, with the development of the technologies of video, image and vocal communications, foldable electronic devices having cameras installed therein have become popular. Photographic image data obtained by the camera can be transmitted by the foldable electronic device in real time. The camera may be mounted in a main body or in a cover of the foldable electronic device. Alternatively, the camera may be mounted in the hinge mechanism installed between the body and the cover. This enables the camera to be rotated within a range of angles, in order to conveniently point the camera in different directions to take desired photographs.
One kind of foldable electronic device with a camera is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2004/0051779 published on Mar. 18, 2004. The foldable electronic device has a lower case, an upper case, and a hinge mechanism. The hinge mechanism includes a hinge part, a photographing part rotatably mounted in the hinge part, and an association mechanism. The association mechanism has a connecting member. The connecting member holds the photographing part so as to rotate about the hinge part and to rotate the photographing part integrally with the upper case. However, the photographing part cannot rotate independently from the upper case, and thus cannot rotate to and be oriented in any desired direction.
Another kind of foldable electronic device with a camera is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2002/0187818 published on Dec. 12, 2002. Referring to FIG. 8, a mobile phone includes a camera module 500 and a hinge mechanism (not labeled). The hinge mechanism includes a rotation axle 600, an elastic sub-part 700, and a bushing 800. The elastic sub-part 700 is essentially plate-shaped, with a central through hole. A pair of opposite protrusions 702 extends from the elastic sub-part 700 toward the bushing 800. The bushing 800 has a contacting part 802 and a boss 804. The contacting part 802 defines a plurality of grooves 806 corresponding to the protrusions 702. In the illustration, there are six grooves 806. The rotation axle 600 passes through the through hole of the elastic sub-part 700 and the bushing 800, and the elastic sub-part 700 is fixed in the camera module 500. The rotation of the camera module 500 can be achieved via the connection between the camera module 500 and the elastic sub-part 700, the engagement of the protrusions 702 in selected of the grooves 806, and action of the rotation axle 600. The hinge mechanism can achieve rotation to and orientation in different desired angles. However, there are numerous elements, which increases the space occupied by the hinge mechanism. In addition, after repeated use, the connection between the camera module 500 and the elastic sub-part 700 is liable to weaken. The elastic sub-part 700 may even separate from the camera module 500, resulting in failure of the hinge mechanism. Furthermore, the rotation mechanism is not modularized, and therefore is unsuited for efficient mass production.
What is needed, therefore, is a hinge mechanism which has a relatively simple and small modularized configuration, and which can rotate to any of various desired angles so that a camera therein can be oriented in a desired direction.